Review of Clinique Age Defense BB Cream SPF 30 in Shade 02

By Contributor: Ritam

For a long-long time, I stayed far far away from the temptations and lure of the glorified revolution of the BB creams. I stayed away mainly because of my skin type, which is oily, acne-prone, sensitive with enlarged pores, with breakouts at regular intervals!! Yes, in short I have problem skin, which needs Medium to full Coverage, something I felt a BB or CC cream wouldn’t manage to give me. However, my skin had cleared up considerably in the last few months, so I finally decided that it was time to jump on to the BB bandwagon. I still wanted to play safe though, and after a bit of research (which means extensive stalking of beauty blogs and lapping up all the reviews of all the BB creams in Indian market), I decided to buy the Clinique BB cream, as Clinique is supposed to

be one of the best make up and skin care ranges in the world for acne-prone and sensitive skin. Let’s start with the reviews and swatches.

The BB cream comes in 4 shades, from Shade 1 to 4, offering more range than most BB creams available in India. I picked up Shade 2, which I feel is closer to my skin tone, though the SA suggested shade 1. I always feel, it’s safer to go a shade darker than to go a shade lighter and look ashy and grey, which just doesn’t do it for me, on my face or my clothes. I love my colors. I’m about a MAC NC 35, though sometimes I feel I still haven’t found my right match. Both in my foundation and my life.

The Clinique BB cream comes packaged in a nice soothing green box, and is a great sturdy packaged tube, which makes it easy to carry in your bag, without any worry of leakage, the nozzle of the tube is perfect. It’s really tiny, ensuring that you squeeze out only little amount that’s needed, avoiding wastage of this expensive product.

A tiny pea-sized amount of the cream is sufficient, so I do think the product should last a good amount of time. The texture of this is smooth, yet not very liquidy and it’s very easy to blend into your skin and once blended it feels totally weightless. It does dry up fast, so it’s best advisable to quickly blend it in. I’ve tried the foundation brush as well with this BB cream, but I think one’s fingers do just about a fine job. Plus, the whole thing with BB cream craze also has something to do with saving time, so I think applying this with you bare hands works wonderfully.

Okay, after boring all of you with all the sordid details of the packaging, the cream, the texture, comes the part of my experience with this product that seems to work for everybody but me.

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 30

So here it goes. I’ve used this about 5 times and each time (hoping it would work for me), after using this my skin has broken out terribly. I just don’t know why. Clinique is really supposed to be one of the best skin protecting make up brands out there, and it’s non-comodogenic and fragrance free as well. I’ve been quite upset over this, because so many of my friends with skin similar to mine swear by the magic of this BB cream.

I’ve been very unfortunate with Clinique even earlier, as Clinique anti-blemish solution foundation, had resulted in breakouts for me as well, so I’m assuming that there’s some ingredient in Clinique products that my skin is probably intolerant to.

Despite that, before the breakouts I did notice that it does work well, as it’ does give light to medium coverage. So those of you out there, who don’t have a whole lot of blemishes to hide and conceal, can give this a go. Even the ones, who do have a lot to conceal (like me) and need more coverage, but still want a no-make up look, can just use a good concealer underneath and then use this BB cream instead of a foundation, as after the concealer it does give decent medium coverage.

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream swatches

Swatches in natural light

This BB cream does add a glow to one’s face and makes it look a little more alive, without looking like you’ve put anything on your face. So voila, it does give you glow, some coverage, without looking like any make up at all.

It lasted for about 4 to 5 hours on my skin. And my skin is an oil-mine. Really. It is. My face tends to be a shining disco-ball in summers, but even in the winters, it gets quite oily. So, for those with less oily skin or dry skin, this should definitely give you more hours.

I do honestly think that this is a good BB cream on its own, and especially for those of you who don’t like wearing much make up on a daily basis. Somehow, it did not work on my skin at all because of all the breakouts it caused, but it works wonders on my mother’s skin. She has dry and matured skin, and it does give her good coverage (she doesn’t need much coverage except around the eye area though and has otherwise blemish free skin.) I can never curse my luck enough for inheriting my dad’s bad skin DNA.

Clinique Age Defense BB Cream shade 2

Hits of Clinique Age Defense BB Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 30:

Does give light to medium coverage, with only a little amount needed, and if used with a concealer, can be used in replacement of a light to medium coverage foundation as well.

Does add glow to one’s face and also offers sun-protection with a SPF 30.

It’s long-lasting and feels weightless once blended into the skin.

Does seem to work on matured and aged skin as well.

Comes in 4 shades, that do about cover a large spectrum of Indian skin tones compared to other BB creams.

Misses of Clinique Age Defense BB Cream:

Caused me to breakout, but I think that’s probably a one in a million case. (If any of you have ever had a problem with Clinique products, please do let me know)

It is one of the more expensive BB creams available in India as it retails for 1900 Rupees, for 40 ml of product.

Price: Rs.1900

VNA Rating: 3/5 (-2 because it caused terrible break outs on my skin)

Conclusion: Clinique Age Defense BB Cream Broad Spectrum is an okay product. So all in all, I will not be repurchasing this BB cream for myself again, though I really wish it suited me, as on a daily basis, I don’t like to wear any make up, but Alas! I will not lose hope though and will continue to stay on the hunt for the perfect BB cream for my overtly sensitive skin.